Village Gamer

As roughly five million Canadians prepare to travel this August, Rogers Communications announced today the launch of innovative new roaming solutions to help Canadians easily manage their data use while traveling outside of Canada.

Starting immediately, Rogers customers on a Roaming Data Pass will be the first in Canada to benefit from real-time data usage alerts while roaming abroad, giving cost certainty and peace of mind. These new Roaming Data Passes start at $5 per day for both customers and small businesses.

The real-time usage alerts (up-to-date within five minutes) will be sent directly to a customer’s mobile device allowing them to monitor and control their data usage. To provide further cost certainty, if a customer exceeds their time or data limit on a pass, they will be notified and then asked to make a choice to either continue at a pay-per-use rate or to purchase another roaming data pass.

“Customers have told us they’re concerned about roaming costs because they don’t have a true sense of how much data they use when travelling abroad,” said Raj Doshi, Vice President of Mobile Product Management, Rogers Communications Inc. “We’ve worked with wireless carriers around the world to deliver this innovative solution exclusively for our customers. The real-time data usage alerts will take the guess work out of roaming while our new data passes will give customers more choice and ways to save money, creating a worry-free travel experience.”

Rogers’ customers can choose from a wide selection of new, affordable day and week Roaming Data Passes depending on their usage needs. Passes are available for both U.S. and International destinations. To make it even easier, data passes can either be pre-purchased before leaving Canada or purchased while roaming directly from a customer’s mobile device.

Last month, Rogers also introduced new unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging offers. Customers now have the option to purchase an unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging pass for $10 (valid for 48 hours) or an unlimited U.S. roaming text messaging travel pack (valid for one month).

“These new options make roaming even more affordable for Canadians,” said Doshi. “We’re continually introducing new plans and new solutions to give our customers the freedom to use their mobile devices worry free when they travel.”

All roaming offers can be added by texting “Travel” to 7626 or visiting www.rogers.com/m/roam directly on a mobile device.  Also, customers are sent a text message when they first arrive at their travel destination with a link to purchase discounted roaming offers directly from their mobile device.

LoyaltyOne has sent out the following warning bulletin. Please pass the information along.

Whether by telephone, mail or email, Canadians continue to be targeted by schemes trying to incent and persuade un-expecting consumers into sharing personal information, financial and even health data for purposes which they never agreed to. Unfortunately, this results in thousands of victims of these schemes each year.

As a member of the Competition Bureau of Canada’s Fraud Prevention Forum, the Air Miles Reward Program supports the Bureau’s broad-based “Recognize it, Report it and Stop it!” fraud prevention efforts.

Recent information of Air Miles Collectors receiving telephone calls from unknown organizations informing consumers that they have won a prize consisting of between 10,000 and 100,000 reward miles have been reported to the Program. Unsuspecting Collectors are then prompted to press “1” and are subsequently transferred to an operator who asks for personal and credit card information.

This is not an Air Miles initiative. The Program does not use an automated message to notify Collectors they have won reward miles.

Canadians must take appropriate precautions to protect their personal information to avoid such schemes. Consumers are urged to protect themselves by never sharing personal information or account information with anyone who should not have access to it.

Any suspicious telephone call when personal information is asked for should be reported immediately to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or call 1-888-495-8501.

New York-based online mobile payments provider Text2Pay has announced that Rogers, Bell, Fido and Telus customers can now use its mobile billing platform to pay for virtual goods and online content from participating merchants, safely and easily. Customers’ mobile phone accounts are billed securely, using a two-factor PIN/Postal code authentication for each transaction. Not only is this transaction method convenient and easy to use, the use of Text2Pay is more secure than using a credit card transaction.

Offering 95% carrier coverage in over 50 countries, the Text2Pay mobile payment platform enables merchants and mobile developers a simple, effective way of monetizing their online offering or adding depth to their current payment options. With no credit card details required, merchants are able to access a wider range of customers and can expect their conversion rates to soar across all customer segments. Text2Pay offers market leading transaction rates and customizes individual pricing solutions.

“We are very proud of our new product and believe this will pave the way to easier, faster and dynamic payment solutions for mobile users worldwide,” said Text2Pay CEO Mark Reiken. “Text2Pay utilizes the latest technology and software. Best of all – it’s white-labeled. Which means we don’t plaster our logo over everything, the client can customize anyway they wish. Working with the Canadian carriers Rogers, Bell, Fido and Telus will really push Text2Pay into the mobile marketplace and make the mobile experience easier.”

Today at the National Association of Bar Executives Annual Meeting in Toronto, Vancouver-based Themis Solutions Inc. announced its new Clio Bar Affinity Program which provides members of participating Bar Associations access to an ongoing discount on Clio, a cloud-based practice management system for small and solo law firms. The NABE Annual Meeting is being held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel from today through August 4^th.

The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association, the largest voluntary state bar association in the United States, has signed up for the Clio Bar Affinity Program so that its members can enjoy the benefits of Clio at a reduced price. Several other top bar associations in the U.S. have also joined the program, including the Connecticut Bar Association with over 9,700 members, State Bar of Michigan with over 40,000 members and the South Carolina Bar with over 13,500 members.

According to Jack Newton, President of Themis Solutions, “We are proud to announce the Clio Bar Affinity Program. Bar Associations across North America are realizing that cloud-based technology is becoming integral to their members’ success, not only as legal professionals, but as business owners. Themis Solutions is teaming up with Bar Associations to offer Clio at a discounted monthly subscription price, which is a true win-win situation. Bar members can tap the efficiencies offered by Clio, and in turn, Clio can be discovered by small firm and solo lawyers seeking greater organization and productivity for their practices.”

Southpaw Technology, a Toronto-based developer of production asset management (PAM) technology for digital content creation companies, has announced that Toonbox Entertainment, also located in Toronto,  is deploying 100 seats of TACTIC to manage all of the assets and data for its first feature-length production, The Nut Job. The growing studio just completed the movie’s trailer, and is now rolling out TACTIC for the production of the stereoscopic 3D film, which is one of the largest productions happening in Canada at the moment. Read the rest of this entry »

Electronic Arts has opened the doors for EA Sports™ Season Ticket (conditions & restrictions apply), an all-new program that provides premium benefits for a better gaming experience on five participating EA Sports titles. With an annual fee of $24.99 or 2000 Microsoft Points, subscribers will receive four all-new program benefits:

• Early Full-Game Digital Access: Three days before a game’s scheduled release, fans will be able to download and play the full version of all five participating titles on Xbox 360 and PS3™. The digitally downloaded game will time out when the game is available at retail and consumers have the option to purchase the same full game on disc at retail. EA Sports Season Ticket subscribers can transfer all achievements earned during the three-day download period to the purchased disc, resulting in an early edge over the competition.

• Discounted Downloadable Content: Subscribers will get a 20-percent discount on all available downloadable content for participating EA Sports titles. Downloadable content, which enhances and refreshes the core game experience, includes such items as Ultimate Team packs, accelerator packs and gear upgrades.

• Free Premium Web Content: Premium web content extends the game experience beyond the console to a web browser. All participating titles will feature premium web content that will be free to EA Sports Season Ticket members beginning with the premium Creation Center packs for FIFA Soccer 12. These packs provide a deeper set of customization tools and abilities within Creation Center to build your own teams and tournaments, and will be available to the consumer until the membership to the program has expired.

• Membership Recognition: Subscribers are easily identifiable with an exclusive membership recognition badge displayed both in-game and on their EASports.com profile.

GameStop will introduce EA Sports Season Ticket in North America with an innovative multichannel marketing campaign, including its PowerUp Rewards™ program of more than 11 million members.

EA Sports Season Ticket is available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft beginning today. Fans can subscribe today through the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®Store for the PlayStation 3, and benefits begin with this month’s launch of Madden NFL 12. Moving forward, participating franchises include Madden NFL Football, NHL hockey, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour® golf and NCAA® Football.

“EA Sports Season Ticket is an exciting program for our core fans – it lets our biggest fans play earlier, play more and play better than anyone else,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SSports. “EA Sports Season Ticket is an important step in our vision for transforming how deeply fans connect with the sports games they love through digital products and services. We’re excited to continue evolving EA Sports Season Ticket as we listen to what consumers want most in their gaming experiences.”

GameStop President Tony Bartel added, “We are excited to be selected as the exclusive retail marketing partner for the roll-out of EA Sports Season Ticket. GameStop is in a unique position to deliver this digital product utilizing its multichannel network. We will continue to work with progressive publishers to bring great gaming experiences to our customers.”

To subscribe to EA Sports™ Season Ticket for the Xbox 360, go to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, download and launch the EA Sports application, and follow the prompts after “purchase a subscription”. For PS3™ users, go to the PlayStation Store, search for EA Sports Season Ticket and purchase the program. EA Sports Season Ticket is available on PS3™ and Xbox 360 in North America, and Xbox 360 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

3D3 Solutions, a Burnaby, BC developer of 3D scanning technologies, will be exhibiting at SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver, where they will offer attendees at the conference free 3D face scanning demonstrations at their booth #879.

The face scanning process involves using a 3D scanner to capture an accurate 3D mesh and color texture directly from a human face. The output is especially useful in the video games, visual effects and medical imaging industry. 3D3 Solutions will feature the HDI 3D Scanner to demonstrate live face scanning at Siggraph. Their scanner uses white-light technology to capture high-resolution, color 3D scan in less than 1.4 seconds. Attendees will be provided with the 3D data of their face scans for personal use.

3D3 Solutions offers 3D scanning systems that are flexible in capturing human shapes, art sculptures, and mechanical parts for industrial inspection. 3D3 Solutions has also worked with a number of leading game companies and universities on developing custom high-speed 3D face scanners. In the latest development, the company’s custom face scanner is capable of performing a 3D scan every 0.2 seconds. “People have a tendency to move just by breathing alone and movement affects scan quality,” said Thomas Tong, President of 3D3 Solutions. “With the ability to generate 3D scans almost instantaneously, users will have cleaner, high quality scan data to work with.”

Please visit booth #879 at SIGGRAPH 2011 to learn more about 3D3 Solutions’ 3D scanning technology.

Vancouver’s Thinware Media Ltd (Thinware) has officially launched StudioCAP (CAP=Computer Aided Production), a completely new workflow automation and asset management solution for animation studios. This new cloud-based system enables studios to more efficiently store, track, and move 2D and 3D CGI (computer generated image) assets through the creation process without having to install and manage a costly IT infrastructure to do so.  StudioCAP is available immediately for site evaluation and trial.

The StudioCAP process was developed in a real-world production environment by Mark Rocchio, CEO of Thinware Media, while creating thousands of hours of high-quality animation projects. StudioCAP eliminates and/or automates many expensive and time consuming manual processes, improves control of digital assets, and features built-in project planning and budgeting.  Once created, studios can search for assets, reuse them as production sees fit, or re-purpose them for marketing, merchandizing, and other revenue streams.

StudioCAP combines asset management with a number of project management and communication features to move assets more efficiently through the creative process. Studios can assign user roles and staffing levels, send messages about asset status, set tasks, automate tasks such as rendering, and define milestones, timelines and deliverables. StudioCAP can also manage project budgets and tie asset creation to asset costs with insightful reports. Collectively, these features simplify asset creation and the management of highly complex productions.

As a completely Web-based solution, StudioCAP is HTML 5 compliant, supports many mobile devices, and does not require studios to install software or procure, configure, and manage hardware. Unlike other asset management solutions on the market, StudioCAP is billed like a utility, so studios only pay for what they use—with introductory prices starting as low as $145.00 per-user, per month. This unique combination makes it easier and more flexible for studios to get started, and far more cost-effective to maintain.

“We developed StudioCAP because there was no other asset management system on the market capable of helping us produce animations faster and more cost effectively,” said Mark Rocchio, CEO of Thinware Media. “Most asset management systems are either too complicated, too lacking in features, or require some sort of costly infrastructure set-up. StudioCAP addresses all of those issues with a feature-rich system that is flexible, simple to set up and use, and more competitively priced to operate than other asset management products available now,” added Rocchio.

Vancouver’s DES Games, Jason Bailey, and a mountain of cash have all gotten together to form the latest greatest games studio, Eastside Games. This exciting new studio aims to be a powerhouse of Social and Mobile games, focusing on Android and the new Google+ platforms as well as their current staples in Facebook, the open web and iOS.

The new studio aims to make quirky and original titles with a bit of edge and a lot of humour. Studio Manager Josh Nilson stated that “this is not your Mom’s Farmville, but she will spend the grocery money playing it anyway.”

•    DES Games developed the popular game ‘Pot Farm‘, a unique and highly successful social game on Facebook. Eastside games retains ownership of Pot Farm and 5 other iOS and Facebook games, with over 1 million Monthly Active Users and over 750,000 fans.

•    Jason Bailey, CEO of Eastside Games, was the co-founder of Super Rewards which pioneered monetization on the facebook platform, paving the way for the virtual goods based games that dominate the platform today. Jason bootstrapped Super Rewards from zero to a 100mm run rate to a healthy eight digit exit all in under 18 months.

•    Josh Nilson remains as Studio Manager.  Josh has been working for the last 2 years as Studio Manager at DES Games and helped turn it into one of the most successful and profitable social gaming studios in Vancouver. He  has become an industry go to for expertise in the area.  Prior to that he worked at Relic Entertainment contributing to the successful and popular RTS games, Dawn of War II and Company of Heroes. He was a Project Manager for an innovative and successful web development startup, Sitemasher.

•    Galan Akin remains as Creative Director. Galan has over 14 years experience in the game industry, as a Lead designer, design consultant, and creative director on a wide variety of projects, from big budget console titles to mobile and social games. At Radical Entertainment he played key roles guiding hit games such as the Simpsons Hit and Run and Scarface: the World is Yours to completion and has extensive experience in IP creation. Galan has been working in the Social games space for 3 years and is developing some exciting new properties for both the Social and Mobile spaces.

•    A pile of cash (1.5 million) has been raised to clean up the cap table, leaving Jason Bailey as majority owner, as well as being earmarked for growing the studio.

•    Eastside Games begins its life as a dynamic and exciting startup leading the creative charge in Vancouver with 2 profitable IPs and more in the works:

• In Pot Farm players help their Uncle Floyd and their friends grow over 60 different  “crops”, make hemp oil, brownies, “potcorn”, and try to protect their farms from that mean lo’ Ranger Dick. Loads of useful items, quests, and over 300 levels keeps fans coming back for more.

• In I Like Slots, players compete on a wide variety of fantastic – looking slot machines. Engaging gameplay and 100s of prizes make for a superior slot experience.

• Launching soon, Zombinis is a collectable battle game featuring adorable and somewhat explosive zombies with detachable body parts and addicting gameplay. Assemble your army of furry (or scaly, or feathery) minions out of discarded stuffed animal parts and battle your friends to become the undisputed ruler of Zombiniland!

The company is currently on the search for Producers, Project Managers, Engineers and Artists.

Ceridian Canada Ltd. has launched the Powerpay Web Mobile app, already available to BlackBerry users, on iTunes for iPhone and iPad devices. Available for $6.99, Powerpay Web is Ceridian’s flexible payroll solution that enables small businesses to process their payroll online. The Powerpay Web Mobile app gives Ceridian Powerpay Web clients the ability to review and then submit their payroll figures directly from their smartphone.

“This app will definitely make processing payroll much easier because you can approve from anywhere without having to find a computer with an Internet connection,” says Anthony Jacobelli, Controller, Eden Oak. “It’s also easy to use.  The various screens are very similar to, if not exactly like, the screens I’m accustomed to.”

Later this summer, an updated edition of this app will be released that to provide further functionality such as the ability to add and edit employee profiles and quickly enter time information. If a manager is at off-site meetings or travelling for business, the Powerpay Web Mobile app will ensure all employees – full time, part time or occasional – are paid correctly and on time.